Usually doesn't work here! This happens to me fairly often, but today three cars in a row did it, so I need to vent. When riding home my route takes me through a blind curve on a narrow, two lane road with a moderate amount of traffic. Sometimes I can time it just right so that I'm through the curve before any cars reach me, but when I can't I usually try to take the lane. With reasonable human beings this would work just fine, but of course people here are dumber than chickens. Occasionally a motorist will actually wait 4 seconds (which is all it takes, at most) and then pass me safely after the curve. But more often than not, they pass me in the middle of the blind curve completely in the oncoming traffic lane! I've seen many near misses, but today took the cake. Three geniuses in a row did this on the curve. A driver coming the other way had to lay on his brakes to keep from getting hit head on. Luckily he wasn't just a second or two sooner.

Let's think about this for a second:

1. They would only have to wait four, maybe five seconds at the most, as I'm usually going at least 20mph here.

2. The speed limit on this road is 30mph. If they were behind a car going 20mph, surely they wouldn't pass on the curve (or would they?) Of course, most of them are usually going well over 30mph...

3. To get home mere seconds sooner, they are risking my life, their own life, and the lives of anyone coming the other way. I hope it's worth it someday when they kill/injure several people, probably themselves included.

4. This curve is just a few hundred feet from an intersection, and nearly all of the cars on this road are from the larger road at the intersection. That means they've only had a few hundred feet to accelerate, yet a 20mph cyclist is still too slow for them?

Are people really this impatient? Are they willing to risk several lives just to get home literally a few seconds sooner? Or are they simply so freaking stupid that they can't comprehend any of this?

I don't usually start threads at all, and certainly not ones like this. But, if you'll excuse me, I just really needed to get this off my chest. It seems like the drivers in this town get a little worse every week, and I can only assume that before long they'll start killing each other (and maybe me) in droves as they become more and more insane.

Yes, yes, and yes.

You should find a new route and be careful. Because in case of a tie, you lose.

I thought about going a different way, but I'm actually only on this road for maybe 500 feet, just after the blind curve is my turn. The other routes I would take are much longer and probably just as dangerous, if not more so.

It's not just you, or the bike, they do that to me when I'm driving my car as well.

Sometimes people can't see past the immediate moment. And at that moment, you were their obstacle.

I have a spot for about half a kilometer where I take the lane totally to save my butt. I have had a couple of motorists get pissed, but overall, no major issues. Only have issues when I don't take the lane. I take it, I win and live.

I have a curve like that on my way to work and I refuse to ride it.

Its uphill (and steep so I'm good to do 10-12mph) people are running 50mph through it yapping on the phone. A privacy fence along the side of road that obstructs clear line of sight. I have been brushed by a side veiw mirror on the curve. I ride on the otherside of the road on the side walk to the next intersection at the top of the hill where I get back out in the road. That fence has been taken out twice in the last 6 months from wrecks.

This kind of crap is why you have to use some kind of judgement to save yourself. It's fine to talk about "taking the lane" and never using the sidewalk but when you're in a place where the cars are hitting each other because they're in such a damn hurry or so stupid I sometime do whatever it takes to get out of the way, the sidewalk, the ditch, a parking lot, whatever.

In my neck of the woods, I have to deal with a lot of impatient drivers making California stops. That is where they stop, then take off in a fraction of a second. Then there's other ZIPPER_heads that jump at the green light and hall @$$ only to get stuck at the next light. I laugh at those people. Pretty sad, because they do it to get attention. How pathetic!

I don't take the lane if I feel it's dangerous.

I have done that, as well. The road is narrow enough that, even if I'm riding on the side of the road they will still be half-way in the other lane if they're passing me. To be honest, if there was a sidewalk here I would probably be on it, even though I try to avoid that.

Actually, here I've been passed on blind curves while driving my truck at 35 mph in a 35 mph zone. It's just insane. Happens all the time while cycling. I've seen some really amazing near misses. Incredibly stupid. I live in the countryside and there's always a blind spot and always somewhere shortly thereafter with a good sightline. Most of the trouble comes from city people who have moved out here.

Are you sure it's a sensible idea to be taking the lane on a blind curve?

BF dogma says take the lane, no matter what. If you go down, we'll make a thread for you and keep on preaching in your memory.

I think you really have only two options: 1)find a different route. 2) wait for a safe opening and take the whole lane-decisively. So that no one can come around you.

You will piss people off big time if you choose #2, but it could save a life, which may be yours.

I don't really see any other good options, do you?

i have noticed when a lane is not taken, or you give space, the trickle down effect happens.
if one driver passes too close, that seems to open the "OK" for the next one(s) to follow, placing you at risk from their choices.
claim a lane, choose alt routes, camcord rides....be assertive and safe!

I don't know, but they'll usually try to pass me either way. If there's a car coming the other way, they're either going to be halfway in their lane or completely in their lane, so I suppose either is bad enough.

That's a tough call. I am certainly not dogmatic about taking the lane, and will usually do my best not to impede traffic. I make myself as visible as possible by using 2 tail-lights and wearing bright jerseys, and assume that if people can see me they won't hit me.

I've got a comparable tough spot on my commute home. It's a 4-lane road with turn lanes. The worst spot is a traffic light that catches me at least 90% of the time. The road is uphill at that point, and there are turn lanes to the left and right. So I have to stay in the second lane from the right (which is turn only), and cars are always trying to cut me off or drift over. I usually signal to the cars behind me that I am going straight because otherwise someone will assume I am going to stay all the way to the right.

After the light, I take the lane until I am through the intersection and then drift right. I stay far enough into the lane so I am clearly visible, but don't block the lane. The cars are going slow enough at that point, due to the red light, that I'm not worried about getting blown off the road. Long story short, I leave enough room for cars to pass me without having to cross the lane line, but I stay far enough from the curb to make myself visible. Actually, it's not safe for me to ride any closer to the curb because the pavement drops off sharply (due to a bad repaving job) about 3 feet from the curb, and there are also some bad drain grates.

Perhaps it's something in your water...or perhaps they're more or less like people everywhere, i.e., impatient and selfish. That doesn't mean they're incapable of learning from situations where their actions almost cost them big time, as in your example. There are plenty of people who will pull a boneheaded stunt behind the wheel (or on a bike), believing they can get away with it. When they get a reality check, however, they do learn from the experience. No one wants to pay a lot of money and fill out a lot of forms. Just think of it this way, every time a driver passes you on this curve and has a near miss, that's one driver who won't try it again.

If you absolutely have to go through there, and you must take the lane because it's narrow, I guess you're only option is to wait for a break and then go really, really fast.

If you were not taking the lane, would these drivers have tried to squeeze past you in your lane rather than the oncoming lane and possibly either hit you or run you off the road when confronted with oncoming traffic? I'm just wondering if taking the lane actually did work for you here in the sense of keeping you safer, notwithstanding the fact that the drivers chose to put themselves at risk by passing at an inappropriate time.

+1

My friend, that is a good question

On a blind curve, it would seem to me safer to take the lane where you are more visible, once you're passed the "apex" of the curve, move back to the right.

It's true that forum dwellers, myself included, love to preach about the set-in-stone rules. But the fact of the matter is, you do what is safest for you. The reason I do what I do is because I believe most people are reasonable enough to know that there are exceptions to every rule. And secondly, because if we all took the stance, "Do what you think is safest" you'd have ignorant (not stupid, just ignorant) people doing things that aren't safe, and perhaps telling other people the same thing.